1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device for manufacturing brushes, more particularly a device which consists of a means of transport; one or several tools which are erected along the means of transport; and brush holders which are provided on the means of transport.
In such devices, the brush bodies to be processed are fixed in the brush holders, and these brush bodies are successively positioned, with the help of the means of transport, opposite the different posts where the brush bodies are either or not subjected to a processing.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Until now, it was usual to apply a carrousel or a chain as a means of transport, whereby usually five posts or stations are provided along a chain, whereas along the perimeter of a carrousel, depending on the type, maximally three or four posts or stations can be provided.
A first type of carrousel is what is called the triangular carrousel, around which maximally three posts are provided. In the most current known devices these posts are working posts, more particularly a loading and unloading post, where the brush bodies to be processed are fixed to the above-mentioned brush holders and where the finished brush bodies, after their processing, are removed from the brush holders again; a working post is provided with a drilling tool for making holes in the brush bodies; and a working post is provided with a filling tool for applying bundles of fibers in the above-mentioned holes.
The second type is what is called a square carrousel, around which maximally four posts can be provided. They usually comprise a loading and unloading tool; a working post with a drilling tool; a working post with a filling tool; and a working post with a cutting tool to cut the above-mentioned bundles of fibers at length.
A disadvantage of the known devices is that they can hardly or not at all be transformed from the one above-mentioned type into the other type, as the construction of a square carrousel differs strongly from that of a triangular carrousel, whereby moreover the angles differ over which said carrousels have to be turned between two posts.
Indeed, a triangular carrousel always turns at an angle of 120°, whereas a square carrousel has to be rotated 90° in between two working steps, which implies that the posts along the perimeter of both carrousels are provided at different positions.
Another disadvantage is that, in order to manufacture brushes with a device in which is provided a carrousel, along whose perimeter can be provided more posts than necessary for manufacturing the brushes concerned, one usually has to fix as many brush holders at the perimeter as the maximum number of posts that can be erected around the carrousel.
Indeed, when for example one of the four brush holders is removed from a square carrousel, the known device will lose one fourth of its productive capacity.
The latter disadvantage is also the most important one when using a known device, whereby a chain is applied as a means of transport.
The present invention aims to remedy the above-mentioned and other disadvantages.